Family Tree
by KaySnap55
Summary: Neither ever knew that they were living side by side, neither ever knew that the connection they had ran as deep as the blood in their veins. not EliotxParker even thought i do like that pairing


They'd had 5 kids already, and one on the way when the man from the insurance company had come to tell them their horse farm was sending up so many red flags it was unbelievable. Kevin and Maria Spencer were shocked, shooing their children from the room, the eldest being 15 and the youngest being 7. We don't understand, they said, all our records are clean! The man had just smiled his patronizing smile, and said that without payment their horses, their farm, their_ life_ would be taken.

They gave those men everything in order to keep their family safe, just to find several weeks before the baby girl was going to be born, they'd been conned of every penny. While trying to help their family, to keep their children off the streets, they'd been robbed. They hid it from their kids as long as they could, but they were smart. Robby, her 15-year-old son picked up on it almost immediately. He didn't tell the younger ones, but they overheard their parents talking after dinner.

They took it surprisingly well, insisting they pitch in to help. The week before she gave birth Maria was the most content women alive. Her children took care of her every need, and at night her youngest, Eliot and Sandra would play guitar and sing for her. Even though their money had been taken away, the family had gotten closer. They were the happiest they'd ever been, but in a world like this happiness cant last for long.

Maria gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, a tuft of blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes. "Sapphire." Maria whispered, looking lovingly up at Kevin. "We'll name her Sapphire." A kind looking nurse wandered into the room, soft brown hair tied up in a loose bun, several strands escaping to frame her slightly chubby face. Brilliant green orbs peered down at them, a slightly crazed look to them. 'We'll need to run some tests on your daughter. Just to make sure she's ok." The happy couple missed the gleam in the women's eye, they missed the slight bulge in her pocket, and they missed that when she took the baby, she practically ran out the door.

Minutes ticked on, and soon Maria rang for another nurse, panic flooding her when she saw the confusion flash across the women's face. "We usually don't run tests right after the child is born. Who was the women that took your baby from you?" Maria and Kevin were devastated to find that the nurse that took their baby girl wasn't even registered in the hospital. In less then a month, they'd been stolen from twice, the second time much worse then the first.

It was heartbreaking to tell the rest of their family that their baby sister had been kidnapped from them, right out from under their noses. Robby was furious, as was his 13-year-old sister Brooke. They couldn't believe that their parents had just let that awful women take their sister away. Kendal, being ten, didn't quite understand, and neither did Sandra and Eliot. All they knew, was that the baby girl that should have been their sister wasn't there, and they couldn't do anything about it.

As they got older they understood. They grew up around family though, a big family, and always knew what it was like to be loved. They could never imagine what Sapphire was going through, not in a million years. Very slowly, their family healed. They came out of debt. Sold some of their horses, but were able to live. To survive until another job came along.

Eliot lived a good life. He was a popular kid, handsome, good at sports (and with the ladies) and on top of that he was a singer. He loved to ride his horse Lily, and often went on weekend rides with his sister Sandra just for some time away from the business of life. He had four loving siblings and parents that cared about him. He didn't have everything, but he had enough. He had what he needed.

He never really forgot about his sister, nor did he forget about how his family had been conned. That's why he went into the military, but he hadn't really been planning on becoming a hitter/retrieval specialist. That just kinda happened. He'd been blackmailed into it, and suddenly he couldn't back out. Not only could he not back out, he could no longer contact or see his family because if he did, the people who wanted him dead would find them.

That was one of the things that broke him. One of the things that hardened his heart. He wasn't used to not seeing his family. He relied on them, and suddenly they were ripped away, so fast he just couldn't stand it.

Of course Sapphire had never gotten the chance to have a family. The nurse who had taken her was crazy. Very crazy, and was convinced that the girl was her daughter but made her do terrible awful things. She abandoned the name the girl should have been called, and insisted on calling her Parker instead. Her husband was even worse, and a drunk at that. The nurse would routinely change her appearance, pretending to be someone she wasn't and Parker learned from a young age not to directly talk to the women. The only problem was that the crazies husband thought she was being disrespectful when she ignored the women. He would usually try to hurt her, but she had been learned to run and hide the minute she could walk. It helped that she was extremely flexible and had an uncanny ability to get into high an/or small places.

In another life, she might have been in gymnastics, or she might have even taken art classes because she had a knack for that. But instead she spent her days hiding in fear that her father's next hit might kill her, or that her crazy mother might make her do something awful. Parker taught herself how to steal, but she was young and even though at first it had just been candy she'd taken, when she tried to take a stuffed bunny rabbit the store manager had seen her and with apologetic eyes had turned her over to her furious parents. She'd been greeted with a slap from her father as he latched onto her arm, hard enough to leave a bruise as he dragged her out of the store.

"Either don't steal or, I don't know, learn to be a better thief." He growled, snatching the bunny rabbit out of the seven year olds hands and stomping from the room. Later that day, she'd snuck into his room and nicked the bear back, then waited for the best possible opportunity to set the bomb that would blow up that wretched house. She didn't want him to die; she just wanted him to hurt, bad.

So she waited till they'd gone on their weekly trip for booze and had blown up their house. It hadn't been very hard.

So from then on she was shipped form foster home to foster home, each one worse then the last. At age 9, she learned to be a get-away driver, then at age 12 she learned to jack cars. After spending 6 months of her life in juvie, she vowed to never rely on anyone ever again. Then Archie took her in, teaching her everything he knew about being a thief, successfully getting her hooked on thievery. She trained with him for 4 years, and unknowingly became very dependent on him. She knew he had a real family, and knew she would never fit in with them, but still she stayed.

Until one night when they'd gone a little bit longer then normal, they'd both gotten caught up in the fun they were having, when a frantic call from his daughter drew him away from Parker, reminding her that he had people depending on him. That was the night she left after once again realizing that she'd let herself become weak, she'd let herself open up to people.

After that she stayed true to her word, and at age 16 she didn't trust a soul.

So these two siblings led wildly different lives, one being cherished and loved, the other knowing nothing but cruelty and heartbreak. And the day they finally collided, they didn't even know it. As days went on they grew closer to each other, but not in a romantic way. Never in a romantic way. They couldn't explain it, but both of them just _knew_ it would be wrong. They were like siblings to the rest of the team, and little did they know they actually were.

So the two lived side by side, never realizing, never understanding why they felt such a connection. Two broken souls, linked in ways they couldn't understand, neither knowing that everything they'd been looking for was right beside them with each passing day.


End file.
